Can Chicago Overtake Rio for the Games?
Frank Deford in a recent Sports Illustrated column wonders…
Our underdog soccer team’s success last week in South Africa was a sweet surprise till Brazil caught us — but, in the meantime, in the year’s other major international sports competition, we’re the heavy favorite. But can we hang on down the stretch this next time against Brazil? Can Chicago beat out Rio for the right to hold the 2016 Olympics?
All along, Chicago’s been the choice, with the British books still holding that toddlin’ town at slightly better than even money, Rio around 5-2, with Tokyo and Madrid as longshots.
There is, after all, a popular theory that the International Olympic Committee feels that it better butter its bread and periodically award the Games to the U.S. because we ante up so much television money. In truth, though, that’s might be wishful thinking, because the reality is that the IOC deigns to award the Summer Olympics to the U.S. only as a last resort.